Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
by MetaphoricallySane
Summary: Where do stars come from?


**Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star**

MLP Gore

(MLP:FiM)

They are something no spell can ever create. They are made of innocence and joy and brightness, and no pony will ever truly understand the extent of that. There are astronomers and astrologers, each attempting to manipulate those brilliant masterpieces, but no conclusions could ever be drawn. Where had they come from? What even are they? And how can such a thing die?

There are only two ponies in the whole of Equestria who understand – however vaguely – what it takes to make a star. These two ponies keep it a secret, and that it must remain, for the power of a single star could destroy everything in its path. They never told a soul.

Until they had to.

"_Twinkle, twinkle little star…_

_How I wonder what you are…"_

She had studied for years. The Princess had always taught her to beware the stars, but that only made the little mare more curious, more daring to search for the truth. It was all she ever wanted – an explanation. If there was no explanation, how could it be real?

But they were real. That's what left Twilight Sparkle puzzled every single night when she was gaze into Princess Luna's world and wonder. There had to be something – some great magic or something therefore, something… _outstanding. _

And she would be the one to find out.

Ever since she had been a filly she had stargazed, and ever since she was that size she had crossed her hooves and sworn to find out what stars were. Ever since the day she made her promises, the stars had risen on her flank – as was her destiny, of sorts. Yes, she, Twilight Sparkle, would be the one to understand the stars. The one to gaze out and to pick them apart and know every single secret behind the glimmering beauty that studded the night.

"Spike?" she would ask, as he buried his head under his pillow with a groan. "Do you think it will ever make sense?"

"Just go to sleep, Twilight…" he would mutter back.

But she never would. She would watch and wait, as though it would all become clear to her.

_Someday._

_Someday, I will know what a star is._

Come morning one day in early spring, Twilight had a sense of foreboding, that something was terribly wrong. She stared hard into the darkness, looking for anything that might give her a hint. She found her body aching, like somepony had stabbed her in the chest and she was bleeding, bleeding, slowly dying away…

She gasped in pain and huddled tighter into her bed, trying to block out the agony, but it simply did not fade. Spike looked over her worriedly.

"What's wrong?" he asked, fearful and completely unaware.

"Nothing, Spike…" she hissed. "I'm sure… It's probably just lack of sleep, that's all."

"How many times have I told you to stop stargazing and just rest, Twilight?" Spike huffed as he fetched a book of household medicine. "Here… we… go… "Chest pains can be cause by a variety of heart problems, blah, blah, blah, but lesser causes include sleep deprivation or lack of certain nutrients in food." When did you last eat?"

Twilight glared at him a little. "Yesterday. I'm not malnourished; I look after myself very well. I'm not an idiot."

"Stupid enough to question the stars," Spike muttered under his breath, expecting her not to hear, but she did and her glare hardened until Spike thought lasers might come out of her eyes. "Sorry, Twi, but you've got to admit… It is quite an obsession."

"It's a study, not an obsession," she spat back, and rolled over to face away from him, clutching at her chest the whole time.

At that exact moment, Spike hiccupped and felt that usual discomfort of a particularly desperate letter and coughed it up immediately. "Letter from Celestia. Want me to read it to you?" he offered.

"I can read, thanks," she hissed, and used her magic to snatch it from his grasp.

At first she didn't want to read it. She was not in the mood to hear from Celestia about friendship or magic or even study after what Spike had said, but as soon as her eyes caught the word 'dire' she began to panic, and her eyes scanned the letter, once, twice, three times.

"_My dearest student Twilight Sparkle,_

_Something terrible has happened and I need you and your friends here immediately. I know you specifically take an interest in stars – please come quickly, this is dire news and your knowledge is vital to us. Make sure to bring the others as they will be important too._

_Yours faithfully,_

_Princess Celestia_"

Her first reaction was complete and utter fear, but then her gaze hitched on the word 'stars'. This was it. This was her special talent. This was her fate, he destiny, her whatever but it was important and the Princess needed her.

"Spike!" she yelled, clambering painfully from her bed. "We need to go to Canterlot – now! And get the girls!"

Hurrying from the library they rounded up the rest of her friends, who were all excited to hear about the trip until they saw Twilight's desperation. This had to be bad, and everypony knew it.

They just needed to find out what it was.

"_Up above the world so high,_

_Like a diamond in the sky…"_

As Canterlot rose to greet them the ponies galloped on tirelessly, knowing that their Princess needed them and that they would do anything for her and Equestria. The palace towered above them as if it were floating, a mythical realm of dreams awaiting them. But not today. They burst through the doors and cantered for Princess Celestia's study.

"Princess," Twilight greeted, gasping her breath back. "What is the matter? We came as quickly as we could."

When the stunning Princess turned she was dull and her eyes bloodshot. "Good. You're here. As I said in my letter, Twilight, there is no time to lose."

She stood up, shakily, and headed out of the room. The others, bemused and more worried than ever, trotted after her, down stairs and corridors and across halls.

And down more stairs. So many stairs…

"What is this to do with stars?" Twilight ventured, catching up with her to walk at her side.

"You'll see soon enough, Twilight," Celestia mumbled, her voice a lot less harmonious than usual. In fact, it was almost husky, wheezy, sickened… "How much do you know about stars?"

"You told me not to study them, remember?"

"I know you – you're the most inquisitive little…" She clenched her teeth a little, stopping herself from cursing her curiosity. "…mare I have ever met. You researched them, studied them, watched them… Ever since you were a filly you were… passionate about them. This should test that passion."

"Princess, what do you mean?" Twilight stammered, but Celestia was no longer listening, rushing ahead to a thick, iron-plated door, padlocked and chained and solid. Cobwebs clung to its framework, tiny guardians of what lay beyond. "I-I've never seen this part of the palace."

"You weren't meant to," Celestia responded, gruffly. Her horn glowed a deep purple as slowly, one by one, the chains and locks fell to the ground with clanks.

Apple Jack narrowed her eyes a little. "Uh, Twilight? Any hints as to what's goin' on here?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, AJ, I just… don't know…"

Rainbow Dash stepped up beside her. "You? Twilight? You don't know?" She gulped. "Well, we're screwed."

"Rainbow!" Fluttershy gasped. "The Princess is right there…"

"If I can't open this door we're all fucked," Celestia growled. "Now get over here and help me budge this thing!"

Rarity scowled. "Princess Celestia, I do ask that you watch your language! I respect that the hierarchy puts you above me but, really!"

"Shut the fuck up," Celestia scolded, "and for once in your life actually give a pony a hoof with something!"

Shaken, they all stepped up to the door, shoulders scraping against the bars as they pushed and pushed until eventually with a creak and a crack it began to slide open. Pinkie Pie was the first to peer inside, grinning cheek-to-cheek at the notion of a surprise party waiting for her. Princess Celestia prodded her hard with her unicorn horn and she jumped and backed off for the Princess to go on ahead. Pinkie blew a silent raspberry after her.

"Look who's cranky," she joked to nopony in particular. Which was for the best, as none of them were in any mood to laugh.

The room was dark, dingy, dusty. It felt completely desolate of all life, and yet Twilight felt something strange about the aura of the room. The pain in her chest had been replaced by a kind of weightlessness all over her, like she were flying, like she was where she belonged.

Lighting their horns, Celestia, Twilight and Rarity led the way, glancing to and from. At first the room seemed empty, completely and utterly empty, but the more they looked the more they saw.

Rarity saw jewels and dresses and gems and such beautiful fashion she had never seen before.

Squinting into the darkness Rainbow Dash saw clouds and rainbows and the best storm she had ever seen, tempting her to laze in it's tug, to fight against the elements and win.

Fluttershy was in a glade, light glancing through the trees down on deer and rabbits and every creature she could ever imagine, and all of them squealing with delight at the sight of her.

It was a party for Pinkie Pie – ponies from all around Equestria celebrating Pinkie and he love to party and dancing and offering her cupcakes and laughing.

For Apple Dash it was her family, preparing to run a race to harvest apples in the most awesome way she had ever seen. She craved to run and join them.

But for Twilight?

It was just an empty room.

"Welcome to the room of Stars," Celestia greeted in disdain. "You see nothing."

"H-how do you know? Everyone else is talking about all these wonderful things and yet…"

"And yet we are alone." Celestia stopped walking and shut her eyes. "Like the reality of true stars, we are completely isolated."

"T-true stars? But we're here, in Equestria, on the ground, not…"

"Shining in the sky? You think those stars are real?"

Twilight blinked a few times. "But this makes no sense."

"It makes complete sense – you just have to except it. When you learn to stop questioning, you will be the wisest of everypony alive."

"But that- that doesn't make sense…"  
This time Celestia ignored her. "Luna will be here soon. Only then can I explain what we need you to do."

Twilight let her head drop, everything that ever made sense now irrelevant. She couldn't understand. Was there even a reality anymore?

"Sister," the voice boomed from behind them as Luna hurried in, but her measured gait made her seem as though this was commonplace and more than a little inconvenient. "It is the middle of the day. Must we do this now?"

"You remember what happened last time," Celestia grumbled.

"But stars only come out at night. Can't we wait till evening?"

"No. This must be done now. Twilight, are you ready?"

"Ready for what? Can somepony please explain?"

A growl, a rumble, and deep unrest shook the ground beneath their hooves, making Twilight hold her tongue but her legs began to shake.

"Sister, this must be done now!" Celestia ordered. "Before it's too late."

"Princesses, please, I-I don't understand, but anything you need…"

"We need you," Luna proclaimed. "You and your friends. Let us begin."

Weaving nightmares into dreams they trotted back to where Rarity stood, dazed, and Twilight tried to get her attention but she was lost in her own fantasy. "They can't help us, they're all… hypnotised or something!" Twilight cried.

But just then it all began to make sickening sense. Celestia stared deep into Rarity's dazed eyes, beyond her soul, and commanded her with her eyes to follow her, deep into the darkness of the Star Room, Luna herding Twilight along behind them. The blackness embraced them, captured them, suffocated them, until finally there was light. Candles, hundreds of them, and an altar.

Weapons and gags and ties and restraints and hot wax and flaming pokers were arranged around the altar, all gleaming, all ready. At first Twilight knew it was a joke. But then she questioned it.

And then she glared to Luna.

"What is this?" she screamed.

Luna just looked up. Far, far above was a portal to the night sky, and it was black, unlit, empty. There was nothing.

"When stars die, so must new souls," Luna answered quietly, emotionlessly, and Twilight turned just in time to see the daggers thrust through Rarity's four hooves, pinning her, but she didn't even blink. Twilight struggled forward but the Princess held her back, commanding her, "No, Twilight! It must be done!"

Blood trickled over stone as Twilight's heart froze. Celestia's pupils grew small, focused, and deeply intent on the task before her. One slice at a time Rarity's bones began to greet them, her ribs appearing bloodied and helpless, still desperately clinging to the heart they guarded.

Vessels and arteries and veins were tossed aside carelessly, cut away, dropped into golden bowls now painted crimson. Still her chest rose and fell with each measured breath, as though nothing was happening, as though she could still see her friends and her dreams right before her. Only a few tears in the corners of her oceanic eyes gave any sign that she was still clutching to life.

Twilight was useless, hopeless, desperate but unable to act. It was as though… as though she understood. That finally it made sense – the blood, the bone, the murder – to make a star.

Oh, how wrong she was.

"Twilight," Celestia beckoned.

Her eye twitched a little as she stared down at the heart of her friend. "I know," Twilight replied, and shut her eyes, letting the bloodlust and fatality overwhelm her with the scent of wax and flames and gold, and bent her heart forward, hearing the rip of blood vessels, the gentle tear of life from the pony before her, and a whisper of surrender before she held the dripping muscle above her, illuminated red and still pumping, settling it gentle among the pokers, watching it sizzle and glow and burn.

The scent filled the air, a scent nopony would ever be able to describe – it was raw dark energy, the aroma of power and domination, and it was hers.

With the sound of a tear falling, the heart turned to dust and fell apart, something rising from it; a shimmer, a glisten, floating up, up until-

It was gone.

Celestia dropped her head, gritted her teeth.

"WRONG!" she screeched. "We must try again! Luna, fetch Pinkie!"

"_When the blazing sun is gone,_

_When there's nothing she shines upon…"_

"But sister, don't you see what you are doing to your dear student?" Luna pleaded, cowering slightly before Celestia's anger. The last time she had seen her sister like this, she had killed both of their parents, and that was a long, long time ago.

She turned on her, enraged and slicing her horn across Luna's soft neck, letting the blood drip slowly from her horn onto her white pelt, staining it but she didn't even noticed. "You know what this is!" Celestia growled. "You know we can't get this wrong! Remember what happened? DON'T TELL ME THAT YOU CAN'T FUCKING REMEMBER?"

Luna felt tears come to her eyes, and was unsure whether it was from the glaring pain in her neck or the memories kicking her in the face. "That wasn't our fault…"

"PONIES WILL DIE!" Celestia raged, head butting Pinkie Pie and pushing her along the floor, her hooves screeching and scraping along the stones, and Twilight cringing.

She was waiting at the altar, still staring down at Rarity, begging her to open her eyes, regretting what she had done. She, Twilight Sparkle, had killed her own friend, ripped her heart out.

Worst of all, she had enjoyed it.

It was like nothing she'd ever felt before – the power surging through her was better than any magic, any shitty little friendship. It was strength and it was her destiny – to create the stars. The fact it had failed made her determined not to fail her beloved teacher again. With a twitch of her eye she looked up into the fading sun, then let the mirage be revealed to her – the empty blackness that she had to fill with her souls.

She was born for this, to prevent whatever evil Celestia was so terrified of, to betray and to save.

She hissed a little as she saw how painfully slow the sisters were being and galloped over, illuminating the room with her anger and throwing Pinkie across the room with magic. The sisters stopped, watched her.

"Are we going to do this or not?" Twilight fumed, and lifted the glowing Pinkie onto the altar.

She groaned lightly. Her head was throbbing. Something was wrong. This was no party, this was… a sacrifice? Through blurry vision she saw flickers of light, glaring out at her, almost mockingly. Her philosophy was to laugh away the fears – but the looking in Twilight's eyes made her incapable of even moving.

"Wh-what's going on?" she asked, her voice a higher-pitched than normal.

Pupils constricted, irises wide, eyes unblinking except the occasion disconcerting twitch, Pinkie knew something was wrong. She was too weak to stand, too nervous to even reach out and ask for help. She feared she would not be assisted at all.

"It's alright, Pinkie Pie!" Twilight reassured, throwing rope over Pinkie's legs and wrapping it tightly to the plinth, tugging hard until Pinkie felt the raggedness grit into her legs. The second rope was around her neck, and her front hooves were clamped into the manacles protruding from the altar, already bloodstained.

Perhaps it wasn't delirium when the pink pony thought she saw Rarity's mane burning up in the fire and disintegrating into nothing. Perhaps she wasn't imagining the scent of burning flesh and hair and insanity.

She struggled but only strangled herself slightly.

"Pinkie, don't worry!" Twilight laughed, lifting up an injection with her twisted magic, growing blacker and blacked each moment. "This is more important than you or I. It's for the Princesses!"

Pinkie wanted to argue but found herself gagged by a bloodied rag rammed into her mouth by Celestia herself. She saw the red around her lips, clinging to her horn, and shut her eyes.

"It's just a nightmare," she mumbled to herself, but with the gag she sounded just as crazed as the rest of them.

Just then the needle dug into her chest, piercing between bones and heading straight for her precious muscle, already beating furiously before the adrenalin shot. Twilight smiled sickly, knowing she had hit her target by the pounding radiating through the injected right to her own veins.

"The more life in you, the better," she told Pinkie, and before the pathetic pony could even protest the scalpel dug into her chest, ripping and tearing while she screamed as best she could but not nearly loud enough. There was no one to help her. Once more blood spilt across the altar, blessing it in this vile ritual as Twilight buried her own face in Pinkie's chest, nipping away the blood vessels, digging around for the heart and clamping her teeth around it, the maddened pumping making her shake a little and the sweet metallic taste of blood encouraging her through unfair temptation.

No, no. The heart had to be saved. She tore it away, watched the lustre fade from her sky eyes, the colour running away in tears before her eyelids closed.

Twilight skipped to the fire, dropped it in, listening for the 'pop, pop' of blood boiling and spitting out at her as the wisp rose, rose, rose-

And vanished.

Celestia thrashed, almost ripping Pinkie's head off, and charged straight at Twilight. Luna jumped in the way, tensely protective.

"WE NEED HER!"

"She has the strongest soul; she would make a star! SHE WOULD SAVE US ALL!"

"No, sister. She is one of us. Leave her be. It wouldn't work."

"Tell that to Oriens! Tell that to our brother! Tell that to all of our family who failed to appease Him! Don't you see, Luna? IT'S HER OR US!"

"_Then you show your little light…_

_Twinkle, twinkle through the night…"_

"Us?" Luna spat. "We only need ONE star, Celestia! ONE. STAR."

Their eyes met, glaring so harshly that Twilight felt electricity crackle around her. They stepped forward, slowly, stiff with anger, brows furrowed, horns glimmeringly sharp, one crimson, one ivory, one murderous, one protective, and both prepared to kill.

"Then I suppose," Celestia whispered, "it's you."

"Then I know," Luna hissed back, "you are wrong."

Their horns clashed together, striking and swiping and jabbing at one another, hooves kicking up as they brayed and cursed and Twilight cowered until she realised what she had to do. Charging away from the battle, she seized Apple Jack and Rainbow Dash, thrashing them across the room with her magic, leaving them semi-conscious and split on the floor, bleeding and broken.

Dash feverishly flapped her wings, trying to get herself up in an instant, knowing something was horribly, horribly wrong.

"Apple Jack!" she cried, seeing her friend struggling towards her.

"It's alright, sugarcube," the shattered pony assured her, ignoring the bones splitting her skin around her ribcage, ignoring the pool of blood around her, and only seeing Twilight's rage, her wide smile and tiny pupils, watching them closely.

"We must help the Princesses!" Twilight ordered, staggering towards them.

Dash writhed until she finally gained some distance over the hard rock floor and she struggled up, up, until Twilight tore her down with rabid determination.

"Rainbow!" Apple Jack yelled out in shock, and pulled herself forward, one hoof at a time, every slip and scrape twisting her pain into something worse until she collapsed and passed out.

Dash kicked madly at Twilight, each muscle contraction sending bolts of agony through her whole body, screaming all the time, unable to accept defeat until she saw what was left of Apple Jack, lying there, unmoving. She heard the battle cries of the sisters, finally reaching the end of their rivalry in blood and fire and anguish as they warred it out, once and for all.

"Twilight, what the fuck are you doing?" Dash yelped, just as she managed to push Twilight off of her, crumbling to the ground, skidding sickeningly across the room.

"Stars!" she demanded. "We need stars!"

Dash gritted her teeth. "This is all for your fucking obsession? Twilight, look at what you've done!"

And for a moment she did. She just looked around – at the bloodied mares she had once respected, at the friends she had once loved, at the ritual she was willingly taking part of. Her heart broke, her mind twisted with disgust – how had she, Twilight Sparkle, the best student in Equestria, come to this?

"It's a study…" she growled, pulling herself up, "not an obsession."

She charged at her last friend, her last enemy, driving her horn deep into her throat, feeling the blood flow around it like cleansing herself of all the lies of "friendship" and watching Dash's eyes, once rosy and bright, begin to fade away. Twilight could hear her heartbeat. Fading. Fading. She had to do the ritual NOW.

She dragged Rainbow Dash across the room and heaved her onto the altar, not caring to savour her death. She had to save all of Equestria. These "friends" didn't matter. These "friends" had done nothing good for her; they had disturbed her study, and now she would get her revenge.

She drove her horn into the blue pony's chest, carving out slit after slit until she speared the heart, still beating and Dash still alive, and ripped it away, hurrying to the fire and lowering her horn to it, letting her mane burn along as the heart sizzled and crackled and wisps of smoke surrounded her and flames danced in her eyes. The heart crumbled and she stepped back, waiting for the soul to be released, to join the stars, to complete the ritual.

Celestia stepped to her side, coated in her sister's blood, her eyes wide, waiting for it to be done.

And they waited.

Far too long.

"YOU FOOL!" Celestia roared, suddenly turning on Twilight as the air grew cold around them. Then she bit back her anger, gazed around the dark room casually, smiled. "There are no mortals left. I am afraid I did not spare Luna's heart – silly me. And the ritual has still not been completed."

Twilight tried to back away, but only the flames were behind her, licking at her tail, scorching her flanks. Celestia stepped forward. Her eyes were blood red.

"_In the dark blue sky so deep,_

_Through my curtains often peep…"_

"I warned you to keep away from stars," Celestia reminded, shaking her head but her eyes remaining locked on her prey. "But you never listen. Will you never LEARN?"

Twilight jumped at Celestia's rage, feeling the fire sting around her body, envelop her in its mouth and burn her. Still Celestia paced forward, in slow, measured steps that only a Princess knows the posture for.

"Oh Twilight, I had such high hopes for you…"

_Think, Twilight, think… There has to be a way out…_

"You were such a good student… Always studying… always curious…"

She raised her head, her horn glowing black and her eyes glaring red. "Too curious."

Twilight ran, through the fire and smoking out into the room, charging wherever she could find as she heard Celestia's spell shatter against the wall and the Princess begin to charge after her. She skidded and slipped in blood, but kept running, understanding the fear and loathing it. If only her friends had been useful for once!

Celestia was close behind, she could hear her hooves pounding, feel her anger ripping through the air. Twilight made it to the door, but it was shut and her magic was weak with desperation, and so she ran again, hiding behind pillars to no avail.

Night fell over the room, leaving only the fire as the source of light. The dark sky was black, a gaping hole above them where the last star had died. Now it was and opening, an open cell door for what lay trapped beyond the stars. Claws grasped the tear in the night as He awakened, ripping into reality and crawling through.

Suddenly the hoof beats ended. Twilight caught her breath, pressing her back to a dark wall, studying every sign of escape but coming up with no conclusions. She heard whispers and screams and shouts, but there was no noise. Just the crackling of the fire, and the smell of burning.

Had Celestia sacrificed herself? Thrown herself into the flames and let them devour her heart?

In some part of her, Twilight hoped not. She was Princess Celestia, her teacher, her role model… She was better than this.

_Maybe I do deserve to die._

Stepping out of the shadows gingerly, she glanced around. There was still nothing. At a drip Twilight spun, but it was only Rainbow Dash's blood spilling over the altar.

And then she heard it – like the dragging on skin and bone along the floor, like struggling, like wheezing.

"Twilight…" the voice spoke, and she spun again and again, but saw nopony. "What… in tarnation… is goin' on…"

Apple Jack pulled herself along the cobbles, appearing from the shadows, her back legs crippled and broken, her ribs protruding from her chest, her freckles stained with blood. She was the last sane pony left, and Twilight rushed to her side, crying and unsure of what to do next. The Princess was gone – had the ritual been completed? Was there still danger?

Apple Jack was her last friend left. Her only friend. And she was dying.

Her heart was still beating, still as strong as the mare herself.

Her eyes were still open, still blinking, still green.

"We have to get out of here," Twilight decided.

Apple Jack shook her head. "Twi, I ain't gonna make it… You go…"

Twilight shook her head, adamant. "You're the only one I have left. I am not leaving you."

Apple Jack smiled slightly. "Twilight, go… I ain't gonna be a burden much longer…"

Ignoring this, Twilight lit up her magic in purple radiance, as it always had been, and lifted Apple Jack off of the ground. "We'll find a doctor here, or get you to Zecora, and you'll be fine, I promise. Everything will be fine."

Just then the ceiling crumbled and fell, blocking the door and any means of escape. Twilight scrabbled at the rocks but there was no way of climbing out. A great roar sounded all over Equestria.

He had risen.

The ground shook and the skies began to collapse as He raised his head. Even Twilight could not describe the creature – as dark as night itself, as glaring as the sun, and as malicious as the world itself.

And it's colourless eyes had found them.

"_For you never close your eyes…_

_Till the morning sun does rise…"_

Twilight ducked and charged, still keeping Apple Jack held over her, racing to the fire. It had to be the only way.

"I'm sorry, Apple Jack," she cried above the screams of everypony. "There's no other way!"

"It's alright, sugarcube…" the earthpony murmured, flopping inside Twilight's magic, her eyes closing, closing.

"You have to stay alive," Twilight pleaded. "Your heart must remain strong, or it won't work!"

"I don't… think I can, Twi…" she whispered. Her heart was faint. His vision was faded. Everything was dying. "I'm sorry…"

Twilight looked up, mid-gallop, and felt the life drain from her friend, and her heart stopped and her eyes closed and it was over. Wrecked with emotion she tossed the body into the flames, watching it burn up, burn up and disintegrate. There was no choice. She stared into the flames, raised her bloodied hoof, prepared herself-

With a strong wind the fire vanished before her and she screamed, instantly knowing that she had to run. He needed royalty – a Prince or Princess – and Twilight could do nothing now. Her death would solve nothing.

Unless…

She leapt up onto the altar – the candles were still burning, there had to be a chance. Trembling she seized the scalpel with her magic held it over her chest, shut her eyes, clenched her teeth, and drove it in, cutting deeply, her magic fading as her blood spilt but she could do it, she had to do it. She heard her veins splitting, her flesh ripping, her heart beating in regret but she was not strong enough. The scalpel fell from her, clattering to the ground, and her mind whirred. Shakily she stood up, stumbling over to the nearest candle as the Star Room collapsed behind her. She could feel His hot breath, and knew she had no choice. Her heart, severed from its holdings, fell forward against her ribs and she held herself over the candle, letting the flame tickle the muscle, singe it, and it popped and crackled until the blood extinguished the candle. She staggered to the next candle, and the next, but she was unable to hold herself upright much longer. She collapsed to the altar, too weak to even cry.

Hoof beats. Slow, staggered, stumbling.

Through her pain she saw the blood red figure standing over her, her eyes still shining softly with grief as she plucked Twilight's heart out with her magic. Twilight relaxed, knowing there was nothing more, knowing…

She almost felt it, the flames around it, burning, devouring, freeing, until she strained to see it, but knew it was complete.

A faint, purple ghost of her soul, trapped in magic, shooting into the skies, dragging back the monster into His prison beyond the skies, sealing the tear.

Celestia looked down at her student's corpse, and then walked away, singing, _"Twinkle, twinkle little star… How I wonder what you are…"_


End file.
